Ben's Guardian Angel must had to have pulled double shifts recently, because he was saved not once but twice with in the last week.
The first time was when we were getting ready for school. I was looking for socks that match in my bedroom. I hate folding socks, and had a whole basket full of unfolded ones to go thru to try to find matches for both Ben and I. Usually I leave the bedroom door closed so Ben can't play in there, but this time I did not. I looked over and the little stinker was sitting on my floor, playing with a quarter. I quickly took it away from him, which made him mad, so he ran by my dresser, reached into my coin tray and ran out. I caught him and got the rest of the coins. Just as he was wiggling away from me, I noticed his other little hand was clenched tight. I started to chase him down again when he popped the object into his mouth and proceeded to choke on it.
He had another quarter.
It was now stuck in his throat.
He was scared.
He was in pain.
But he was breathing.
I calmly called the Dr and explained the situation. The nurse said if it went to the stomach it would be fine, but since Ben's was obviously stuck in his throat, it could move and block his airway, so we needed to go to the emergency room.
Outside I was calm, but inside I was in a panic. We live a 1/2 hour away from the hospital. What if it shifted?
On the way to the ER, Ben went between whimpering and crying, then he started to doze off. Not good. So long as he was speaking to me, whining, or crying, I could focus on driving, I turned on his favorite song, to try to wake him up. He did wake up, even signed a few words with the song, and even gave me half a smile. I was wondering if the quarter was on it's way down.
My husband met us at the hospital. We were sitting in triage and they were taking weight, pulse-ox, temp, etc. when Ben started to cough. He turned to me and finally hacked up a big pile of frothy white goo into my hands, that luckily contained a quarter. Randy was happy that Ben hacked it up on me instead of him, so he could go back to work with out buying new clothes. Ben went from a boy who was scared and in pain,
back to his happy merry self, in just a couple of seconds. Even the nurse at the desk remarked about how he turned into a totally different kid, like we flipped on a switch.
They did ask us to stay and take x-rays, just to make sure that there were no other coins that got swallowed, but all was clear. Ben was a champ the rest of the day and laid nice and still for the X-Ray. He got a milk shake to sooth his throat and then took a power nap on the way home.
But that was just the first episode.
The second was just a couple days ago when we got home from school. Uncle Russ was here working on fences for the cows, and needed Noah to help. Since it was a nice day Ben quickly ran outside to play too. We have a large back yard, so I followed him around for awhile until Ben found a golf club to play with.
When Ben has a golf club, you need to give the boy some space.
So he ran over to the barn to play golf where he usually does, and I went to check to see if any pumpkins survived on the other side of the yard.
I noticed Ben heading over to one of the grain bins which was the direction Uncle Russ and Noah had gone. I remember thinking how cute it was that he wanted to tag along. He had just finished hitting a couple balls when he stepped forward into the space between the bins to look at something. That something was my Brother backing his truck right at Ben. I could tell there was no way Russ could see him in that big truck. I took off running toward them, waving my arms, and screaming at the top of my lungs, not even able to form a real word, as I realized I was about to see my baby killed. I was hoping that Ben might get the idea and move based on all my screaming, but he stood there like a deer in the headlights watching the truck come toward him. Then with just 6 inches to go the truck stopped.
My brother had heard my scream.
Ben must have decided the truck was boring once it stopped moving and toddled on his merry way to finds something else to hit with his golf club.
I scooped him up and rushed to the house. He did not understand why Mom was acting so weird and fought me the whole way to the house. It was still a nice day out. He wanted to play. Once safely inside I just collapsed with him inside the back door. I had nightmares all night of tail lights heading for Ben.
That was way too traumatic for this old mamma to take.
I am just glad Ben's Guardian Angel decided to work overtime this week.
Here is hoping for a much quieter week this next week.
We are thankful to everyone who helped make the walk a huge success !